Email Newsletters

Daily Photo Galleries

McKeesport Photo Galleries

Traveling by Jeep, boat and foot, Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine and photojournalist Justin Merriman covered nearly 2,000 miles over two months along the border with Mexico to report on coyotes — the human traffickers who bring illegal immigrants into the United States. Most are Americans working for money and/or drugs. This series reports how their operations have a major impact on life for residents and the environment along the border — and beyond.

He left the post effective at the close of business on Monday. Councilors confirmed Galla's resignation on Tuesday.

Council vice president Rob Falce said he was surprised by Galla's decision, stating he talked with him recently about what a great job he did setting up the Community Day website.

“It was unexpected,” Falce said. “We're not looking to make a move, but we're looking to do something. I know a couple people tried to contact Matt. Nobody's heard back.”

Falce said a part-time clerk was helping Galla in the office. The clerk will field borough office calls and is expected to take notes at Wednesday's council meeting.

It is uncertain if council will accept Galla's resignation at the meeting.

Councilman Dan Lloyd said Galla “gave lots of reasons” for resigning and the resignation letter reads as follows: “Although my time with the borough of Munhall has been, for the most part, satisfying and productive, for quite a while now I have become disillusioned, disenfranchised and less and less satisfied with my current work situation. Attempts at resolution have been unsuccessful.”

Lloyd said he will contact Galla to see if he will change his mind about leaving.

“In order for him to come back, the whole position has to be restructured to where he has authority to make decisions, a lot of decisions,” Lloyd said. “He has the responsibility to get things done, (but) he's never had the power to make decisions without being second-guessed by council.

“As far as his job performance, it was A-plus. He's the best thing that's happened in Munhall borough in five years, and it would be a travesty if he wouldn't reconsider. I will be in touch with him in a few days. We have not yet accepted his resignation. I'm of the opinion that we need him and we need to work something out with him that makes sense.”

Galla's letter states he completed Wednesday's meeting agenda and provided a “small guide for whomever will be picking up the workload.”

Falce said he's unsure if Galla will return to work for the borough, and is seeking an interim manager with assistance from the Allegheny County Boroughs Association.

Galla replaced Rebecca Wehrer as borough manager on Jan. 1, 2011. Wehrer accepted an early retirement package in November 2010 after 34 years of borough employment. Galla was assistant borough manager at the time, and was appointed to the position in December 2010.

Galla officially began working for Munhall borough in January 2009 as an office assistant and six months later the position of assistant borough manager was created for him. Before that, Galla built the borough's website and wrote the code enforcement system in 2007-08. He moved to the borough from Southern California in 2005.

When he was in California, Galla was a manager of operations for Walt Disney Co. He earned a business science degree from University of California-Riverside. Galla then received a master facility executive certificate from BOMI International.

Michael DiVittorio is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1965, or mdivittorio@tribweb.com.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Total Promotional Solutions

A division of Trib Total Media is your one-stop-shop for all of your branded merchandise needs.

We specialize in providing quality affordable promotional products for every type of business including non-profits, schools, universities, sports teams and more. With 1000’s of products to choose from, our knowledgeable staff can help you find the perfect apparel item or product to suit your needs and budget.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.